]]>http://www.gwrlab.org/2017/10/02/shojiueda/feed/0UNESCO International Symposium on Scientific, Technological and Policy Innovations for Improved Water Quality Monitoring in the Post-2015 SDGs Frameworkhttp://www.gwrlab.org/2015/07/15/unesco/
http://www.gwrlab.org/2015/07/15/unesco/#respondWed, 15 Jul 2015 02:44:13 +0000http://www.gwrlab.org/?p=207Water quality degradation is becoming an increasingly acute problem in many parts of the world and is causing serious human health risks and environmental degradation. Improving water quality worldwide has been recognized as a key for enhanced water security in the post-2015 sustainable development. The proposal by the United Nations General Assembly’s Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) includes, as part of the goal on water and sanitation for all, a specific target to improve water quality and wastewater management. Consequently, improved water quality monitoring and data will be essential in monitoring and evaluation of progress towards the achievement of this SDG target on water quality and wastewater.
To support the SDG water monitoring framework, UNESCO organized an International Scientific Symposium on Scientific, Technological and Policy Innovations for Improved Water Quality Monitoring, that was hosted by Kyoto University, in Kyoto-Otsu, Japan, from 15-18 July 2015. This scientific meeting was organized in the framework of the implementation of Theme 3 “Addressing Water Scarcity and Quality” of the Eighth Phase of International Hydrological Programme (IHP-VIII) of UNESCO and as an activity contributing to the UNESCO-IHP International Initiative on Water Quality (IIWQ).

This scientific meeting aimed to enhance scientific capacities of countries to improve water quality monitoring at the national and global levels in order to support the monitoring and evaluation of the water-related SDG targets in the post-2015 sustainable development framework.
The meeting focused on three main objectives to:
1. Facilitate scientific discussion, knowledge exchange and collaboration among experts and stakeholders.
2. Establish a state-of-the-art of scientific research, methodologies, tools, technologies, and policy approaches on water quality and wastewater monitoring.
3. Collect practical cases of this stocktaking on water quality monitoring as a demonstration of the implementation of these tools and approaches.

The specific topics that were addressed included:
– Water quality monitoring focusing on different pollutants, including both traditional and emerging pollutants,
– Water quality indicators, data and reporting, with emphasis on new methodologies and tools such as bio-monitoring, investigative, GIS-based and “smart” monitoring
– Water quality assessment for surface and groundwater resources and special attention will be paid to the environmental issues
– Monitoring wastewater, with emphasis on safe wastewater reuse
– Policy measures including water quality regulations and guidelines, as well as the implementation of water quality monitoring
– Economic aspects of water quality monitoring and management
– Capacity building, awareness raising and cultural aspects with focus on gender issues and public involvement such as ‘citizen monitoring’
Participants included scientists, researchers, water quality experts, water professionals and practitioners, and public health and environmental specialists. Participation was also sought from policy makers and planners in water and related sectors, as well as from civil society representatives.
Based on scientific and practical contributions, this international scientific meeting resulted in technical and policy recommendations on improving water quality monitoring to address the global water quality challenge and to support enhanced water security for the post-2015 sustainable development.
Dr. Sarantuyaa Zandaryaa, Programme Specialist on water quality in the Division of Water Sciences of UNESCO, and Prof. Yosuke Yamashiki, Professor at Kyoto University, Japan, were in charge of the organization of the meeting.

Traditional methods to locate and subsequently study radioactive fallout particles have focused heavily on autoradiography coupled with in-situ analytical techniques. Presented here is the application of a Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope with both backscattered electron and energy dispersive spectroscopy detectors, along with a micromanipulator setup and electron-hardening adhesive to isolate and remove individual particles before synchrotron radiation analysis. This system allows for a greater range of new and existing analytical techniques, at increased detail and speed, to be applied to the material. Using this method, it was possible to erform detailed energy dispersive spectroscopy and synchrotron radiation characterisation of material likely ejected from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant found within a sediment sample collected from the edge of the 30 km exclusion zone. Particulate material sub-micron in maximum dimension examined during this work via energy dispersive spectroscopy was observed to contain uranium at levels between 19.68 and 28.35 weight percent, with the application of synchrotron radiation spectroscopy confirming its presence as a major constituent.

With great effort and cost being devoted to the remediation of significant areas of eastern Japan affected by the incident, it is crucial to gain the greatest possible understanding of the nature of this contamination in order to inform the most appropriate clean-up response.

This study aimed to quantify the flux of radiocesium in the Abukuma Basin (5,172 km2), the largest river system affected by fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) event. In the period from 10 August 2011 to 11 May 2012 an estimated 84 to 92% of the total radiocesium transported in the basin’s fluvial system was carried in particulate form. During this monitoring period Typhoon Roke (September 2011) was observed to induce a significant and temporally punctuated redistribution of radiocesium. The storm-mobilised radiocesium was an estimated 6.18 Terabecquerels corresponding to 61.4% of the total load delivered to the coastal zone during the observation period. The total flux of radiocesium into the Pacific Ocean estimated at the outlet station (basin area 5,172 km2) was 5.34 TBq for 137Cs, and 4.74 TBq for 134Cs, corresponding to 1.13% of the total estimated radiocesium fallout over the basin catchment (890 TBq). This was equivalent to the estimated amount of direct leakage from FDNPP to the ocean during June 2011 to September 2012 of 17 TBq and the Level 3 Scale Leakage on 21August 2013 (24 TBq).